


Back Where it Started

by aurumdalseni (kyo_chan)



Category: Raven Cycle - Maggie Stiefvater
Genre: M/M, Post-Canon, There might be a part 2 to this, and the friends who love him, because if you know me, but I needed some soft and magic for these boys, especially for Gansey, pynch - Freeform, then you know how I roll, when a boy is part forest
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-14
Updated: 2019-10-14
Packaged: 2020-12-15 00:01:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 948
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21024410
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kyo_chan/pseuds/aurumdalseni
Summary: Adam and Ronan take Gansey back to the place that is now a part of him and remind him that magic is real.





	Back Where it Started

**Author's Note:**

> Full disclosure, I am terrible at summaries, but I did my best. Here is today's [ Fictober](https://fictober-event.tumblr.com/post/187637998976/fictober-2019) piece, an excuse for soft boys and magic.  
Day 13 - “I never knew it could be this way.”  
Another post-series indulgence, with Gansey being part magical forest and Adam and Ronan right by his side. Hope you enjoy!

The room was mostly dark when Adam led Gansey into it. The only light came from candles that had been lit and stood guard around a large bowl of water. Gansey could just barely make out Ronan’s shape on the couch, one arm dangling off the edge and the other under his head. He was fast asleep, dreaming. Gansey raised an eyebrow at Adam in silent question, but Adam only smirked and put his finger to his lips. Gansey rolled his eyes but complied, not wanting to wake Ronan. Instead, he followed Adam over to the bowl, sitting where Adam pointed. Across from him, blue eyes flickered with firelight and behind him, Ronan snored softly. In spite of the strange setting, Gansey felt comforted by their presence, the peace between them. It almost felt like he was intruding on something they shared, but his mother had always told him he never intruded where he was invited. So Gansey rested his hands on his knees and waited.

Adam reached out over the bowl to cup Gansey’s face in his hands. The look in his eyes said _ trust me _ , and when Gansey’s gaze flickered down to the water, he could see the reflection of the candles dancing along its surface. Suddenly, the room felt charged with Adam’s touch on his skin and Ronan’s steady breathing. Gansey’s eyelids fluttered. _ I trust you _. Adam used his touch to tilt Gansey’s head down until he was looking into the glassy depths of the bowl. Adam followed suit, taking in a long breath. He let it out in a whisper.

_ “Cabeswater.” _

Something deep within Gansey stirred to life, reaching, stretching for the sound of Adam’s voice. His gaze sank deeper into the water, everything else around him fading except his magicians. The murmur of leaves in a summer breeze sang in his blood, his bones craved the kiss of starlight and sunshine. It had been too long since he’d known the touch of this magic, and now his heart raced with it. He was weightless, floating, aching. 

“Please,” he murmured.

The cool sensation of being plunged into water-life-_ magic _ washed over him. 

When Gansey came back to himself, a giddy laugh tumbled out of his lips. He didn’t even need to see it to know where he was. He could taste the charged air on his tongue and hear the chattering of songbirds where before there had only been the silence of the Barns. But he needed to see it. Gansey opened his eyes wide and took it all in, spinning in place so he could revel in green and growing and endless sky. 

“Took you long enough,” Ronan’s voice called to him. 

Gansey did a half-turn and saw him leaning against one of the larger trees, smirking. He’d had a front row view to the look on Gansey’s face when he realized he was back in Cabeswater, and his answering expression was one Gansey would know anywhere. Ronan was just as happy as he was, proud. 

From beside Gansey, Adam said, “Welcome home.”

Gansey touched his own cheek, the memory of Adam’s hands on his face only minutes ago very fresh and reassuring. How long had they been planning this? To bring him back to where the magic of their real journey together had begun. How long had they known that his soul had been aching for this, a part of him but still needing a place to come back to? Gansey felt his eyes stinging, tears wet on his face, but he smiled brightly at both of them. 

Pointing a delightedly accusatory finger at Ronan, he wiped at his cheek with the heel of his other hand. “You did this again?”

“I had a little help,” Ronan answered, nodding toward Adam.

“A little,” Adam huffed, but his expression was soft for Lynch. 

Gansey felt like his heart would burst. The other two moved in close; Gansey felt breathless between them. All around him and within him was magic. “I never knew it could be this way,” he admitted. 

“It’s a part of you now,” Adam told him. “It can be this way whenever you need it.”

“And you’re not distracted by all that Glendower bullshit,” Ronan added. At Gansey’s pout, he sighed and punched him in the arm. “Cabeswater has a new king now, asshole.”

Gansey didn’t think he could hold everything he was feeling. He closed his eyes, let the whispering of the trees fill him up, lovingly tell him in things in languages he only half understood, but the intention was clear. They gently brushed over and through him, carrying away anything that overflowed. They’d keep those feelings safe for him until he was ready. Being here felt like everything he’d been reborn for, to be a walking reminder that magic was real, that his sacrifice had not been in vain, that there was a life for him both within Cabeswater and outside of it. 

“Thank you,” he told them, leaning against Ronan’s shoulder. 

Ronan made a dismissive noise, but he slid his arm around Gansey. Adam followed suit. Gansey was fairly certain they were keeping his knees from giving out.

“He can make rain now,” Adam said.

“Way to ruin the surprise, Parrish.”

Gansey looked up at Ronan with delight. “Show me.”

They stood together as they sky grew dark, felt it at the core of them when thunder rolled between the trees. When the storm came, warm and relentless, soaking their clothes and hair and skin, they stood and let it wash them clean. 

“Make way,” Ronan growled, his voice like the thunder itself.

Adam smiled, his lips against Gansey’s ear. “Make way for the new Raven King.” 

**Author's Note:**

> Come yell at me about TRC and the Raven Boys at [my blog](http://oldkingyounggod.tumblr.com)!


End file.
